Can Cannabis Improve Sickle Cell Anemia

Sickle cell anemia is caused by a defect in your hemoglobin, which is a protein that allows for your red blood cells to carry forth oxygen. 

These red blood cells lose shape and it causes clogging of the blood vessels, creating pain, swelling, and other complications. 

Some say cannabis can help but is it a valid strategy. 

What is It? 

This usually falls under a category of diseases and disorders. While it does have environmental causes, usually it’s because of genetic. 

Hemoglobin is the protein that gives the cells the red color. This is vital for the survival of this, and many are tasked with carrying the oxygen in tis to the rest of the body, cycling your carbon dioxide back to the lungs themselves. 

This is usually a genetic concern, which causes a defect in your hemoglobin, and it causes them to change into a crescent or a sickle shape, creating complications of the symptoms. 

This can cause anemia, pain, a low mood and tiredness, and also problems with swelling too. 

In some severe cases, it can actually cause damage to the organs, a stroke, ulcers of the legs, pulmonary hypertension, blindness, and complications if you’re pregnant. 

Can Cannabis help? 

This can cause a lot of pain and problems in your life, and there are some drugs which can help keep it under control, such as L-glutamine or hydroxyurea in order to minimize pain. 

Some may use cannabis to help with these conditions too, making it a possible use for certain conditions, including this. 

Cannabis targets your endocannabinoid system, or the ECS. When you ingest it, the cannabis do interface with this, creating the homeostasis with this. The terpenes, flavonoids, and other different compounds synergize in order to produce better outcome. 

So how can this help with sickle cell anemia? 

Well it can help elevate the hormones in the short term, helping those with sickle cell anemia temporarily improve their mood. 

However, long-term use of this does make you feel demotivated, and it can also make you feel more anxious and panic. 

There is also the benefits of CBD, which could be better since it offers a clearer, more blissful effect without the psychoactive high that’s there. It also helps bind to your serotonin receptors, improving the mood, and also offering a more meaningful result. 

This also can impact the pain receptors as well, and it can help to reduce the pain that’s there. Many people who already have sickle cell anemia do use this to help with pain, the mood, and sleep, and it can help with reducing the need for pain meds. 

This of course can help those who have sickle cell anemia, and also pain-related behaviors of this. 

Finally, it can help with the immune system. There is a chance that this can help with your immunity, with the ECS playing a role. Right now, future trials are needed to uncover the cannabis parts, and improve the immunity of those patients in a specific manner. 

THC or CBD though? For some people, they may benefit from the combination of both. But because of how potent the THC can be in this, you may want something with more CBD focus, and it can benefit your body and offer a reduced discomfort of the body. 

There are even some pharmaceuticals that can help with this called Sativex, which is a spray that’s used for MC. 

Right now, we’re still exploring the options of this, and there are a lot of benefits which can come from this. But you’ll know for sure over time if this helps.

Can Cannabis Impact Heart Health?

Does cannabis impact the circulatory system? 

While many use this for heart conditions, there have been studies that have shown that marijuana, especially long-term use of it, may impact different conditions of the heart, especially blood pressure and heart disease. Here, we’ll go over what’s what, and what it is that you need to know. 

How cannabis Affects the Heart 

It’s important to understand that there is a link that does tie excessive cannabis use to increased risk for heart conditions. 

However, not every study paints that same picture. While it may be a threat to one type of person, to another one, it can help to combat the illnesses there too. 

So is smoking weed bad and impactful on the heart? Some studies show that it might lead to increased risk of this condition. Science has found that smoking tobacco is a huge risk of heart disease, but that’s also because cigarettes contain lots of chemicals that can impact the function of the heart. 

While tobacco along with cannabis do differ, they do have similar carcinogens that can impact the heart. 

According to researchers in Canada that have found to see where the increased risk happens with chemicals, they looked at 35 different subjects to see how using cannabis may impact their heart disease risk down the road. 

Using imaging and ultrasound, they found that the arterial stiffness and cardiac function was much greater in those who had cannabis. 

Despite this though, there were more trials and observations that were needed, and it also is important to look at the ways they consume cannabis. Fewer are smoking weed, which means that this may be changing the way it looks too, opting for safer methods of consumption. 

Blood Pressure and Weed 

The research around this found that there may be a chance it can help with blood pressure. 

For those who are elderly and have hypertension, there are some positive findings that can help to treat this. 

According to a national survey which involved 1000 different participants, it was found that the users of cannabis did have a higher risk of possibly dying of hypertension compared to people who didn’t consume this. 

While this suggests that if they smoke it they have the same risks, further studies are necessary for this. 

The best thing to understand is that cannabis impacts everyone quite differently. While there are studies which claim that THC does raise this, there are others show that CBD may produce no major changes in the variables, and it also may block the THC blood pressure increase when you take it together with this. 

Heart Attacks? 

There is a chance that cannabis smoking may increase the risk for heart attack in adults that are younger. 

The big thing to understand here is that the effects of marijuana are different for everyone, and the results may not be what everyone gets. 

While the heart attacks that manifested were quite small in number, it also found that those who did use cannabis were twice as likely to have one. 

This of course increased even more in those who used it a lot. Most users who experienced this were ones who smoked it, but those who used vapes or edibles do have a higher risk of possibly having this. 

Another thing to look at too is that it increases even more in those who suffer from CUD, which is cannabis dependance, resulting in impaired function of the psyche or social functions too, so it does depend as well on how frequently this is used too for it also.